Perspectives on managing electronic records.

As we welcome in a new year, this is an opportune time to look ahead. What can we expect from this new year with regards to how we manage our records and information? One thing is certain, electronic records management will continue to require the attention of everyone throughout every organization--not just those in the records management and IT departments.

The management of electronic records poses sometimes heady challenges for organizations and records and information management professionals, alike, on a daily basis. The term itself is broad, as is its effect on today's organizations. It encompasses a broad range of technology, policies, and processes. It is something we all do on a daily basis--some more effectively than others--whether we are aware of it or not.

This issue of The Information Management Journal provides various perspectives about electronic records management, most notably the legal perspective, the technology perspective, and the organizational perspective. We start off with a look at the growing issue of electronic discovery and the high-profile case of Zubulake v UBS Warburg in "The End of the Ostrich Defense." As the author, attorney/consultant John Montana, points out, the case itself is not terribly noteworthy but rather fairly routine. The court's handling of the issues presented during the dispute and fact-finding process is what is shaking up the legal and business community.

Zubulake illustrates that judges and attorneys alike are much more aware of the issues around electronic discovery. "A new generation of judges is coming up, familiar with electronic records, electronic discovery, and the ins and outs of data recovery," writes Montana. He further suggests that Zubulake should serve as a wake-up call for organizations to get their electronic records--including e-mail--in shape.

Content management is the hot topic addressed by authors Timothy O'Keefe and Mark Langemo in "Controlling the Risks of Content Publication." They use another high-profile case in the United States--that of Colorado v. Kobe Bryant--to illustrate the pitfalls inherent in poor content management. O'Keefe and Langemo examine this issue from a variety of perspectives as well: legal, technology, and business. They ultimately contend that content management is the responsibility of all functional areas, but management responsibility should be shared by IT and records management.

On the technology side, learn about the hot new trend in the IT area of enterprise architecture and object-based storage devices (OSD) in Joe Straub and Kenneth Samarra's article, "OSD: The Future of Storage." This technology is expected to make enterprise upgrades much easier and more affordable for a wide variety of users. Find out more about this technology as it makes its way onto the information management scene.

An entirely different perspective on electronic records management is presented in "Electronic Records Management on a Shoestring" by Jeanne Young. Discover how three different organizations met the challenge of limited resources--human, financial, and technical--to incorporate electronic records management into their records management programs.

Finally, managing electronic records is just one of the issues addressed in the integration of archives, records, and research in a case study of Consumers Union/Consumer Reports. In his article "Integrating Archives, Records, and Research" Kevin Manion examines how Consumers Union/Consumer Reports successfully integrated these three operations and thereby strengthened the role of the information management professional in that organization.

It is our new year's wish that you will find the information and experiences related in this issue an inspiration as you forge ahead in becoming a leader within your organization. After all, as Manion contends, "[t]he importance of having an impact on an organization's business cannot be understated."